The Joy of Sunday Dinner

There is a small part of me that desperately wishes I could be a summer girl. This is the same part of me that was a failed cheerleader when she was 14. She suffers a lot of residual embarrassment for that.

A summer girl actually looks forward to swimsuit season, enjoys wearing shorts and instantly turns golden brown the minute she walks outside. The summer girl buys ripped jeans that are $100 and tells people she made them. She wears aviators and doesn’t tell everyone she feels like a cop. There is a strong chance she was the girl in the early ’00 who wore platform flip flops and never tripped once.

I however, am a fall girl. The kind of person that looks forward to wearing sweaters and boots and who suddenly falls prey to all the pumpkin marketing the minute October hits . The fall girl is desperately glad when she walks outside and she needs a jacket. The fall girl has even learned to like football (or at least learned to love reading books while her husband watches football. She stops to cheer at the important moments). The fall girl always has a new pumpkin candle in her house (because duh, they smell amazing). And, the final and most important thing a fall girl loves: cozy Sunday night dinners.

Is there any other meal more lovely than the Sunday night dinner? Weeknight meals always end up being rushed. No one feels like cooking on a Friday. Unless you are the Gilmore’s and have a personal chef, it’s basically take out night for most folks, right? Saturday is usually social outings or date night. But Sunday, glorious Sunday. That is the night when most people are usually at home, chilling and pretending that if they linger long enough, maybe Monday won’t come along after all.

Sunday also happens to be the one day a week I really feel like putting the effort in to cook a complicated meal. Last Sunday, I actually made Gordon Ramsay’s Beef Wellington which was pretty involving but was delicious and totally worth the effort. Tonight, it’s Irish Stew with soda bread. I really wish you could smell my house right now, it’s like stew-y, bread-y heaven.

Because I’m generous and believe your house should smell like bread heaven too, I’m sharing the easiest Irish Soda Bread recipe ever. Seriously, if you are one of those people who won’t eat bread because you think it makes you fat but you claim not to like it so you don’t seem vain, I think maybe you should stop reading my blog. Because bread is amazing and I’m never giving it up (Also, probably why I’m not a summer girl. Bam, blog post coming full circle!)

This recipe is seriously as amazingly easy as it claims to be and also super delicious. If you look at the original recipe you will notice it calls for margarine. And just so we are clear, I really don’t think we can be friends if you use butter substitutes. It is a crime against nature.

Seriously, next Sunday you should make this bread. You can thank me now for this.

Step 2: In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and butter. Stir in 1 cup of buttermilk and egg. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. Form dough into a round and place on prepared baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine melted butter with 1/4 cup buttermilk; brush loaf with this mixture. Use a sharp knife to cut an ‘X’ into the top of the loaf

Step 3: Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Check for doneness after 30 minutes. You may continue to brush the loaf with the butter mixture while it bakes.